upgrading to Windows 10 Tech Preview

[techtitan100]

Hey guys, I was thinking about trying out the Windows 10 Tech Preview on my laptop and was wanting to know if I didn't like it if it was possible to get my laptop back to factory condition in which it came which is Windows 7 Home Premium, this laptop has a hidden partition that has the original "out-of-the-box" state and if upgrading to Windows 10 Tech Preview would erase the hidden partition.

 

[theog]

   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD.
startup repair disc-create
​

Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?






How to use Toshiba Recovery.
http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD7C02140000R01.htm
http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD1303440001R01.htm
You can order Toshiba Recovery disks from here:
https://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/serviceUnitVerification.jsp

 

[theog]

For more info on Ten.
Windows 10 Forums

 

[LMiller7]

As far as I am aware preview versions of Windows have never provided for restoring the previous version of Windows. That is your responsibility. This could be done with an OEM restore facility or an image backup you have made yourself. It is not wise to rely on a recovery partition. If the drive fails you loose everything.

Be aware that the preview is intended for advanced users. Microsoft has emphasized this. The preview is not a finished product and will have bugs, some of which may be serious. The preview will expire on April 15 2015. Going to the release version will likely require a clean install.

Running the preview in a virtual machine would be much safer.

 

[techtitan100]

alright I won't do it I think I will do it when the real thing comes out and pay to upgrade

 

[kjv1611]

You do realize you can just install Windows 10 into a virtualPC setup, and that way not touch your actual normal installation, right? If not, look up how to install Microsoft Windows Virtual PC, and go from there. That's the best way to handle Dev Previews anyway, since it's so early on.

 

[gregrocker]

You can easily shrink your C drive to install the preview as a Dual Boot. Just follow these same steps for Dual Boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 - Delete Windows 8.

The boot files will be added to the Win7 drive on C, so when ready to get rid of the preview all you need to do is delete it's partition in Disk Mgmt and Extend C back over the space.

If this interests you then post back a screenshot of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...nt-post-screen-capture-image.html#post2261610 so we can make sure you're ready to go with shrinking C.

 

[whs]

The best option is to run 10 in VMware Player. Here is a guide how to install 8, but it is the same for 10. Just select 8 as the os. It will work.

VMware Player - Install Windows 8

But if you want a native installation, I recommend you make an image of the 100MB system partition and the C partition which you then can recover later.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

 

[theog]

Or Windows To Go.

Windows To Go - Create in Windows 8 Enterprise

Windows to Go - NOT upgradeable --Pity

 

[3D Jed]

The best option is to run 10 in VMware Player.http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

I have 10 x64 running in VMware workstation 10. If the OP goes down this route (prob with the free VMware player), he should be aware that the VM has to be allocated RAM. I have an 8GB system and have allocated 3GB to the Windows 10 VM and it runs OK. The OP's spec says 4GB so although it's pushing it, he may get it to run in, say, 2GB.

 

[LMiller7]

I have the Windows 10 trial (32 bit) running in a virtual machine with 1 GB assigned to it. It runs fine with no issues. Not adequate for demanding tasks but quite sufficient for testing purposes.

 

[whs]

I run very well with VMware Player on a 4GB system. I allocated 2 and 2.

 

[groze]

Here is how I got my system now.
Windows 7 sp1
Small 45gb fat 32.

I want to prevent Win7 from being overwritten.
Do I need to create two primary partition or just one primary partition?

Here I would have 3 primary partitions
Windows 7
Windows 10
Small 45gb fat 32 drive


Or this
Here I would have 4 primary partitions

Windows 7
Windows System partition 300 mb
Windows 10
small 45 gb fat 32

Do I need to hide the windows 7 partition, while installing?

I have a minitool partition wizard, so I won't lose data

 

[theog]

small 45 gb fat 32

Why FAT 32 ?

 

[groze]

small 45 gb fat 32

Why FAT 32 ?

I use dosbox, for some reason some dos games I play won't work on ntfs partitions even with dos box. I can temporally move those folders if needed, while doing the trial install of windows 10. Then I can go back and recreate it.

I don't want to dual-boot in the normal way, I would choose disk manage and select the partition to activate. This way it will be easier to delete the windows 10 partition(S). From my understanding to prevent windows from creating a system partition you have to have 1 full primary or 4 primary partition all ready active unless I misunderstood that.

 

[theog]

With a old type MOBO's YES, one partition is ACTIVE.

With MOBO's using UEFI, you have up to 128 primary partition.

 

[groze]

I will sign up over at ten forums.

Here is what I have.

 

[theog]

I will sign up over at ten forums.

Here is what I have.

I would use a VM.

 

[Ztruker]

Do an image backup then upgrade to Windows 10 TP.

I'm running Windows 10 TP X64 under Oracle VB on my Dekstop but I want to see it running native on the hardware so I'm in the process of using Macrium to do an image backup of my laptop running WIndows 8.1.1 Pro X64, then I will try the upgrade path to W10 X64 via a mounted iso.

I seldom use the laptop so this is a good way for me to play.

Edit: Install completed and it runs very well. I'm not seeing enough difference to upgrade my Desktop to W10, at least not yet. Maybe as more changes are released via update I'll be more enthused but so far, no big deal. No real difference from W8.1.1 with Classic Shell or Start8.

 

[miket82]

Running 10 under Oracle VM, 4Gb from total of 8Gb on a laptop. Until yesterday was working fine. Attempted to do an update (Build 9860) which seemed to work but on reloading 10 nothing had changed. BUT, on unloading the VM my screen had changed to what looked like a corrupted LCD. Major panic for a few seconds. Hit Personalize and attempted to change the background. SUCCESS. Panic over. 10 is looking good but not yet convinced that I should part with cash on final release. What I'm looking for is the joy I felt when XP replaced ME and when 2000 took over from NT. NT, oh the frustration of hitting return some 30 times only to be told I'd made an error by say hitting item 17 before hitting item 16.:banghead: